I'm Still Your Favorite, Right?
by theicemenace
Summary: Rodney is still Sam's favorite. Or is he?


**A/N:** This is kind of a combined tag to _Trio_ and _The Last Man_ with spoilers. Sandy

**I'm Still Your Favorite, Right?**

**Trapped in an Abandoned Genii Mining Facility**

"I'm warning you, I could go crazy down here. I mean, ever since the whole Jumper thing a couple of years ago I've been very bad with tight spaces." Rodney appeared on the edge of panic.

"Please! That's _nothing_. I was stuck in a transporter with _Zelenka_ for three hours. Now that's hard." Sam's words, no matter how they were meant, pierced his alarm diffusing it.

"What are you saying? You don't like Zelenka?"

"No, I just…i-i-it was more claustrophobic than this."

"Yeah, but that's not what you _said_. You emphasized Zelenka. You said 'being stuck with _Zelenka _for three hours' like _that_ was the hard part." Now he was smiling.

Sam looked to Jennifer for confirmation. "It did kinda sound that way." She pointed out.

"Look…"

"You can say you don't like him. It's fine. _I_ don't like him."

"Well, he's certainly a unique guy." Jennifer put in. "He's always telling me how nice my hair smells. It's…weird."

"He's a very good _person_." Sam said, trying and failing to divert the physicist's attention from her previous uncensored statement about the Czech.

"Sure-sure-sure, he's the best. You just don't like him."

"I did not say that!"

"Well, you didn't have to. I know which one's your favorite now." Rodney said smugly.

"It's not a contest."

"_Everything_ is a contest."

**Approximately Six Months Later - Alternate Timeline**

Colonel Samantha Carter was killed taking out three of Michael's hiveships several months after Sheppard disappeared on his way back from M4S-587.

Rodney looked around at the people assembled to pay their respects to Sam. She had been respected and well-liked by everyone who had known her personally as well as professionally so there was standing room only surrounding the gravesite at her family plot where she would be buried, or rather, her empty casket would be buried next to the graves of her father and mother.

Her brother Mark Carter, his wife and kids and her uncle Irving were the only family she had left. He stood just behind them with Jennifer Keller, Ronon, Lorne, Zelenka, Dr. Lee, General Jack O'Neill, Dr. Carolyn Lam, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Richard Woolsey of the IOA and many others as well as a large number of civilians both from inside and outside the SGC. All in all, he estimated that there were more than a hundred in attendance. And that was just those that were able to come.

"Samantha died as she wished, in the performance of her duty. She asked that the following poem be read at her service." The Air Force chaplain cleared his throat.

"Let me die working,  
Still tackling plans unfinished, tasks undone!  
Clean to its end, swift may my race be run.  
No laggard steps, no faltering, no shirking;  
Let me die working.

Let me die thinking,  
Let me fare forth still with an open mind,  
Fresh secrets to unfold, new truths to find,  
My soul undimmed, alert, no question blinking;  
Let me die thinking.

Let me die giving,  
The substance of life, for life's enriching;  
Time, things and self on heaven converging,  
No selfish thought, love redeeming, living;  
Let me die giving."

Rodney couldn't help it. He began to cry silent tears for the woman he'd been friends with despite their frequent differences of opinion. At least that was how _he_ planned on remembering it. He covered his eyes with one hand while surreptitiously searching his pockets for a handkerchief. A small, strong hand circled his wrist and pressed several tissues into it. He looked over into the face of Jennifer Keller who gave him a sad smile. After wiping his eyes and cheeks he slipped the soggy tissues into his pocket. A moment later, Jennifer slipped her hand into his and he gripped it like it was a lifeline.

The minister was still talking. "'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.' King David could have been talking about Samantha Carter when he wrote this line because she _was_ fearless. She was also steadfast in her beliefs, had an unshakable sense of justice, integrity, loyalty and was courageous to a fault."

Before long, the service ended and one by one everyone filed past the simple white casket placing flowers on the top or just laying a hand on it in a final voiceless farewell. All the while, Jennifer stayed at Rodney's side, still holding his hand in comfort.

He was the last and lingered the longest. Pressing his free hand to the top of the empty box, he said softly, "I'm still your favorite, right?"

Jennifer finally tugged on his arm and he followed automatically as she led him to the waiting limo for their return to the SGC and Atlantis. It was a trip he'd always enjoyed in the past but now it would be the loneliest ever because it would be taken without his friend Sam.

**The End**

**A/N:** The poem "Let Me Die Working" by S. Hall Youngwas located on http(colon)//users(dot)belgacom(dot)net(slash)gc674645(slash)prose(slash)


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